Additional leave compliance rules and complexities

Working patterns

Full-time work is 8 hours a day, or 40 hours a week. Employees may not work more than 2 hours of overtime each day. When it comes to overtime pay, the law simply specifies that it must be more than the employee’s regular rate.

Annual leave

Employees are entitled to 26 days’ paid leave each year. They can carry over as many unused days as they like, but they must use them by the end of June in the following year. Employers must pay employees for any paid leave remaining from the previous year after June 31. There are set rules determining how and when employees take their leave. They must take at least two consecutive weeks in each 18 month period. They’re also entitled to “suppressed holidays” – 32 hours of leave each year – in lieu of bank holidays. Finally, from their third year of employment, employees get a “reduction in working hours” at 28 hours per year. This extends to 56 hours per year once employees have been in post for five years or more.

Sick leave

Employers must pay employees in full for their first three days of sick leave. If employees are off sick more than twice a year, the amount of sick pay they receive drops to 66% of their standard pay for the first three days. This drops again to 50% for their fourth instance of sick leave, and they get no pay at all for their first three days of illness should they take any sick leave after this. Following the first three days of illness, the sick pay rate is set at 75% of the employee’s salary, half of which is paid by the employer and half of which is paid by the government. For long-term illnesses, employees get 100% of their salary from the 21st day of absence onward, 66% of which is paid by the government.

Maternity and paternity leave

As for maternity leave, mothers get five months at 100% pay, two months of which must be taken before the birth. Fathers can take up to 10 days of leave at 100% of their salary in the five months following the child’s birth.

Bereavement leave

Italian employees can apply for “paid permits”, special amounts of paid leave for events including death, illness, or other family years. Employees can apply for up to 32 hours of paid permits each year in their first two years of employment, or up to 68 hours a year after this.